A Fresh Produce Journey Comes to a Close

As of December 31, 2025, your writer, John McGuigan, will be retiring from the Hass Avocado Board. It has been my distinct pleasure to provide this audience with insights into the work of HAB, the work of our team, and to highlight the accomplishments of a group of colleagues who have worked continuously towards our collective mission of making Hass avocados America’s favorite fruit – each and every day.

Little did I know, back in 1983, when I started my produce journey and was accepted as a fledgling young salesperson for Sunkist Growers in Pittsburgh, PA, where this journey would take me. Fresh produce was still being sold in auction markets up and down the East Coast. Retail customers had recently started buying product FOB from shippers directly in growing regions throughout the country, and selling fresh produce in the city terminal markets all over the country was still the majority way of getting fresh products to consumers. There was no way I could have imagined what fresh produce would become, or what it would mean to my family and me.

43 years later – all I have to say is THANK YOU.

Thank you to all of the people I have come in contact with along this long road who have enlightened me , educated me, and encouraged me. I have had the good luck to have more mentors along the way than anyone should ever be so lucky to have. Sunkist Growers, Inc., Dulcinea Farms, and The Hass Avocado Board, thank you all for allowing me to bring my early passion for produce to fruition and for providing me with the resources and staff I have come to love over the years. I have met the most amazing people in the world along this path. To all of the growers who have allowed me to help take the best, healthiest, and freshest products in the world to market, the fresh fruits that came from their hard work and determination, thank you for your trust and your encouragement along the way, it has been my honor to represent you and work my hardest to maximize your returns.

One of the highlights along the way has been the Board Leadership Development Program, which we christened “BOLD” and developed in 2019 & 2020 to help usher the next generation of future leaders into the avocado industry here in the United States. This program has hit above expectations from the start, and it is only because you, the 50 graduates and 13 current program members, the people who took on the challenge, and the opportunity to learn about what you have determined will be your life’s work, like I did 43 years ago, to help you grow into the roles, the positions, and the opportunities that lie ahead of you. Your participation has been engaging, thoughtful, and inquisitive, three strengths that I see as requirements for your future success. Thank you for becoming what I see as my legacy in the avocado industry. I will be following, reading, and enjoying each one of your successes along your produce careers. I can only hope that your individual journeys will somehow mirror mine and put you all in contact with good people along the way that will help you create a fantastic journey, all your own. Thank you for the opportunity to be a small part of those pathways. Please, all of you, continue to stay passionate about fresh produce – the world needs us.